March 18-24, 2004

art

O Superwoman

Tricks of her trade: Laurie Anderson with her viophonograph in 1977...

Laurie Anderson reunites with curator Janet Kardon for a one-on-one conversation at the ICA -- and everyone's invited to listen in.

by Deni Kasrel

Laurie Anderson is fond of saying she’s simply a storyteller. Some of those stories are anecdotal tales drawn from real life, while others are far-fetched imaginings of surreal proportions. Add in a cache of creative capabilities that include being a musician, composer, vocalist, lyricist, filmmaker, photographer, poet, actor, inventor and humorist and it’s no wonder Claudia Gould, director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, would deem Anderson a "talented Renaissance person."

Janet Kardon, an art lecturer and a former director of the ICA (1979-1989) who will lead an upcoming discussion with Anderson, recalls the first time she caught the artist in action during the '70s at the Holly Solomon Gallery in New York. "It was transcendent," she raves. "Laurie was always an astute observer of the way we lead our lives -- it was just entertaining, humorous, spellbinding." Several years later Kardon curated a retrospective of Anderson's art at the ICA encompassing works from 1969 through 1983.

"People liked it because it was participatory," says Kardon of the exhibition. "You could lean your head on a pillow and hear Laurie talking to you, or pick up a telephone and there would be an interchange with Laurie. You'd step into a small room formed by a hanging black curtain and see a film and she had a little statue there not 10 inches high, but it was standing right there beside you. I guess in retrospect it was like going into a science museum, where you push a button and things happen."

...Performing Transportation in 1979.

Anderson still exhibits in galleries, though she's gained wider public acclaim through theatrical shows that have ranged from large-scale multimedia extravaganzas (United States, The Nerve Bible and Songs and Stories from Moby Dick) to intimate affairs where it's just Laurie, electronic violin, synthesizer and those stellar stories (Happiness). She's also enjoyed a successful recording career, which kicked off in 1981 with the hit song "O Superman."

Her subject matter is eclectic -- history, science, politics, family, language, philosophy and popular culture. Anderson takes it all in, then offers a personal spin -- an offbeat twist that can cause you to laugh or go "aha!" As Kardon rightly observes, "She deals with the vernacular in a way that makes it larger than life. Her content is the ordinary. If you look at her scripts and you look at the words, the lyrics, there's nothing esoteric about it. They're very simple observations. She deals with everyday life and perceives it in a way that just opens your eyes."

The observations may be simple, but a Laurie Anderson performance is hardly ordinary, thanks in part to the artist's fascination with technology. Anderson's inclination in this regard is so well known and respected that she was chosen by NASA to be its artist in residence for 2003 to 2004. Already she's visited several NASA centers, taking notes and snapping photos; some of this will likely figure in her next production.

Curious visual and aural effects are among her trademarks. Anderson once created a tornado on stage (for The Nerve Bible) and she's long enjoyed toying with the violin. In 1975 she created a viophonograph, a homemade record player consisting of a 45-rpm turntable mounted onto the body of a violin. She's been tricking out fiddles ever since in an ongoing exploration of sonic electronic possibilities.

One of Anderson's most striking assets is her mellifluous voice, which can veer toward the banal even as the words venture into the fantastic. Changeups come when Anderson manipulates her vocalizations via devices that can transform her tone into one that sounds masculine or otherworldly. Yet even with these provocative effects the main attraction is always Laurie Anderson. As the ICA's Gould notes, "I think Laurie is drawn and seduced by the technology, but I don't think she would ever want the technology to outshine herself or the work."

Indeed, that's the real draw for her fans: direct connection between the audience and the artist. Anderson's participation in the ICA's 40th anniversary lecture series is but another way to encounter her singular brand of bonding.

Laurie Anderson and Janet Kardon, Wed., March 24, 6 p.m., free, Meyerson Hall Auditorium, University of Pennsylvania, 210 S. 34th St., 215-898-5911.